This invention relates to the transmission of telecommunications signals in two directions over a single transmission facility installed in a customer premises, such as a residence environment. More specifically, this invention relates to the transmission, over a transmission facility in a customer premises, of network telecommunications signals in a first direction for processing by a gateway or other device, and the simultaneous transmission of the processed telecommunications signals in a second direction for distribution to receiving devices.
Growing consumer demand for video and high-speed data services has prompted increased competition to deliver those services to residences and other customer premises. Frequently, different transmission facilities connecting a residence to a telecommunications network are owned and operated by different entities. For example, cable television service is typically provided by a cable operator over a cable system that is generally distinct from the local telephone network owned and operated by a local telephone company.
Different telecommunications systems and networks offer advantages and disadvantages. Cable systems, for example, usually deploy coaxial cable all the way to the residence, which provides substantial capacity for multiple channels of video programming as well as high-speed data services increasingly demanded by Internet users, for example. Traditional cable systems, however, were not initially configured to support signal transmission from the home to the network controller or headend, and thus may not be well equipped to provide fully interactive high speed services. Telephone companies, in contrast, have almost always built their voice telephony networks to support two-way switched communications. However, telephone networks historically have connected households to the telephone network with twisted wire pairs, which were initially designed for voice telecommunications, requiring much less telecommunications capacity than high-speed data transmissions.
Many telephone companies have thus worked to find ways to utilize their existing twisted wire pair infrastructure to support high speed data transmissions to residences and other customer premises. This has led to the development of technologies such as digital loop and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) that enable use of twisted wire pair facilities for the transmission of high speed digital signals that may include telephony, video and data services. Once high speed data transmissions reach the home, for example, they may be fed to a gateway or other device for processing into telephony signals, video signals and data signals for distribution and receipt by telephone, television and computer devices. A gateway device for this purpose is described in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/026,036, VIDEO, DATA AND TELEPHONY GATEWAY, which is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification.
The actual installation of such gateway or other devices in a customer""s premises may lead to additional challenges. A gateway or similar device may need to be located where it is readily accessible to users, or where is can readily receive signals from remote controllers used to communicate with the device. The configuration of the wiring or cabling in the residence or other environment may not readily permit the use of one facility (e.g., a twisted wire pair or a coaxial cable) for delivering the network signals to a convenient location for the gateway or similar device and the use of a second facility to distribute signals from that location to the various receivers throughout the premises.
There is accordingly a need for a system and method for using existing wiring or cabling in a residence or other customer premises both to transmit network telecommunications signals to a gateway or similar device for processing, and to distribute processed signals from the device to video, telephony and data receivers.
It is an object of the present invention to use a transmission facility in a residence or other customer premises for the bidirectional transmission of telecommunications signals.
It is a further object of the present invention to utilize pre-existing wiring or cabling in a residence or other customer premises for the bidirectional transmission of telecommunications signals.
It is an additional object of the present invention to use of transmission facility in a residence or other customer premises the transmission in one direction of network telecommunications signals and in a second direction of processed telecommunications signals for distribution to receiving devices.
It is a further object of the present invention to utilize pre-existing wiring or cabling or cabling in a residence or other customer premises for the transmission in one direction of network telecommunications signals and in a second direction of processed telecommunications signals for distribution to receiving devices.
In summary, the present invention provides a system for simultaneous bidirectional transmission of network signals and distribution signals, comprising a bidirectional transmission facility, a first diplexer and a second diplexer. In the system of the present invention the first diplexer receives network signals and transmits them or passes them on, using the bidirectional transmission facility, to the second diplexer, and where the second diplexer receives distribution signals and transmits them or passes them on, using the bidirectional transmission medium, to the first diplexer. In a preferred embodiment, the second diplexer transmits or passes the network signals it receives to a gateway or similar device for processing, and the distribution signals are the processed network signals received by the second diplexer and transmitted or passed to the first diplexer for distribution to receiving devices. In preferred embodiments, the network signals comprise xDSL signals encoding video signals, and the distribution signals comprise television radio frequency (xe2x80x9crfxe2x80x9d) signals. Such xDSL signals may include, for example, Very High Speed DSL (VDSL), Asynchronous DSL (ADSL), Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, Discrete Multitone and Carrierless and Amplitude and Phase Modulation schemes.
In some cases, the bidirectional transmission facility (e.g., coaxial cable) may have transmission characteristics that do not correspond to those of a transmission facility that connects with the bidirectional transmission medium (typically via a diplexer) for the transmission of network or distribution signals. In these situations, a preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a system and method for converting signals transmitted using the connecting transmission facility for transmission using the bidirectional transmission facility.
The present invention also provides an impedance converter for converting network or distribution signals transmitted using a first transmission medium, such as twisted wire pair cable, for transmission using a second transmission medium, such as coaxial cable.
The present invention further provides a method for the bidirectional transmission of network and distribution signals, comprising the steps of interfacing the first end of a bidirectional transmission facility with a network connection and a distribution facility, and interfacing the second end of the bidirectional transmission facility with gateway connection and a gateway return. The interfacing steps are accomplished so that, at the first end of the bidirectional transmission facility, network signals are received and transmitted in a first direction, and distribution signals that have been transmitted in the second direction are also received and transmitted to receiving devices using a distribution facility. The interfacing steps are also accomplished so that, at the second end of the bidirectional transmission facility, network signals transmitted to that end are received and distribution signals are received and transmitted in the opposite direction toward the first end of the bidirectional transmission facility. Preferred embodiments also include steps for matching the transmission characteristics of the bidirectional transmission facility with those of the facilities used to transmit network and distribution signals.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention are set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part are obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may also be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and steps particularly set forth in the appended claims.